The oven at Pryor’s Pizza Kitchen uses anthracite coal, cooking their pizzas at about 1,000 degrees. Owner Brett Adkins explained their pizzas do have a little bit of a charred taste, which he loves, and said it’s an authentic taste you would not find in a normal pizza place. For this episode of Uncovering Oklahoma, I interviewed Brett and the General Manager, Keenan Hersey, about Pryor’s Pizza Kitchen at Selah in Norman.
I also added two Oklahoma-shaped pizza designs – pepperoni and supreme – to the merch store. Thanks to my superstar supporters, Revolve Productions, and the Keller-Kenton Family, as well as all of my supporters on Patreon. If you love what I’m doing, please join me on Patreon for bonus content, including early access to new episodes. Again, be sure to visit my online store with various Oklahoma-themed merchandise.
I partnered with Daisy Munoz, the Capital Access Manager for Progress OKC, a nonprofit that strengthens and preserves the social and economic fabric in Oklahoma City’s underserved communities. Thanks to their sponsorship, we visit Anointed Hands, FlasHOLR, Focus Urban Farms, 59 Food Mart, and K Luxe Beauty Bar. These five small business have received support thanks to Progress OKC.
Learn more about Progress OKC and our mission by visiting ProgressOKC.org and following ProgressOKCCDC across all social media platforms.
I was originally commissioned to make a testimonial video for Progress OKC, but I added this episode to highlight their clients as a bonus deal for their videography package. I enjoyed working with Daisy and getting to know their program and these businesses.
I’m getting back into the swing of things for Uncovering Oklahoma and first up is a story about the art experience, Seed Reef. I went in a different direction, focusing on more of a mellow pace. For example, I pause the interview a few times, turning up the music to showcase footage of the installation. In addition, I used my camera’s highest quality settings (that I’ve nicknamed the Netflix settings as they are what Netflix wants for video production with my S1H). I used this setting because besides being an episode of Uncovering Oklahoma, this story will be part of another episode of a new series that I’ll talk about another time.
Seed Reef is an immersive, sculpted paper installation of a coral reef, created by artists Emma Difani and Malcolm Zachariah, in collaboration with Factory Obscura. Participants may walk “underwater” through the kirigami (cut and folded paper) reef as it transitions from a colorful, vibrant section full of corals, fish, and other sea life to a barren wasteland of bleached coral skeletons.
Participants are invited to restore Seed Reef by constructing and adding their own corals and other reef animals to the installation. By crafting corals, you are helping seed the reef, bringing it back to a healthy, thriving state.
Artists Malcolm Zachariah and Emma Difani’s artistic partnership formed through a shared love of material, nature, and ecology. Emma will use dye, silkscreen, and woodcut printmaking techniques to create patterns and imagery based on reef life. Malcolm will design, cut, and shape the printed paper to create stationary and suspended kirigami sculptures.
Seed Reef will be open for General Admission on Thursday, February 10, 2022. Tickets are $8 for Adults, $6 for Kids 12 & Under, and Free for Children 3 & Under. Save $2 when you bundle with your Mix-Tape tickets.
Factory Obscura’s Mix-Tape is located at 25 NW 9th St, in the historic Automobile Alley district of Downtown Oklahoma City. More information is available at www.factoryobscura.com.
Thanks to my superstar supporters, Revolve Productions, and the Keller-Kenton Family, as well as all of my supporters on Patreon. If you love what I’m doing, please join me on Patreon for bonus content, including early access to new episodes. Be sure to visit my online store with various Oklahoma-themed merchandise.
Continuing on what I started last year by writing my end of the year reflection in the new year instead of the last day of the year. For New Year’s Eve, I was hired again by the Oklahoma City Arts Council to live-stream their Opening Night event, but this time around, I only broadcasted the last hour while I roamed around capturing b-roll and photos.
2021 was filled with exciting client projects. Starting with the Arts Council of Oklahoma City, I live-streamed their Twilight Concerts for them during the summer again. For Oklahoma Contemporary, I filmed several videos, including some big pieces on Ed Rusha. I worked again with the Oklahoma City Museum of Art recording a series of lectures and art tours. Ran around with deadCenter Film for their festival, new office opening, and Glitter Ball. I got to be part of the media team for the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute in Chickasha. I live-streamed the performances at the Asain Night Market Festival in the summer, which was so entertaining. Did a big concert video with Graham Colton in November.
I filmed a feature-length movie, About A Bear, with Namron Players Theatre. About A Bear is a mockumentary of stories and memories from the Norman community of the “bears” people have faced over the past 14 months during the pandemic. I also helped with their New Plays of 2021.
The client that kept the busiest was Exhale. The company plans to revolutionize lung rehabilitation with an online 12-week rehab program. I’ve been filming all of their educational, exercise, yoga, and promo videos, of which there are over 100! They plan to launch early this year. I’m super excited for them.
I think I covered all of my major client work in 2020 as I kept rather busy last year.
Before writing this post, I kept wondering why I didn’t do as much for myself, but when I looked at what I did for others, I feel great at what was accomplished!
Uncovering Oklahoma in 2021
I’m going to start with the biggest news: I was honored with the Governor’s Arts Award for Media in the Arts by the Oklahoma Arts Council. I feel great appreciation for the recognization of my work throughout the years.
I knew 2021 was going to be a crazy year going forward, so I shifted focus on Uncovering Oklahoma to film monthly episodes with multiple places. In other words, I did the series more like a travel show. Although I did some individual stories too.
According to YouTube, my videos got 48,885 views in 2021 with a watch time of 2.2k hours, and 264 new subscribers. Here was the Top 10 most-watched videos in 2021.
10. Oklahoma State Fair Food 2019
9. Winchester Drive-In Theatre
8. Great Salt Plains State Park
7. Guthrie Ghosts
6. Press Waffle Co at The Collective
5. Wicked Forest of Terror
4. Magnetic Hill in Springer
3. A Day in Bartlesville
2. Black-Owned BBQ Restaurants
Gathering Place
Tales Unveiled in 2021
For the fourth season of Tales Unveiled, Jeff and I kept the season short with five episodes. However, with a shorter season, we were able to produce our most interesting fictional narrative arc. Having Kristy Boone back was great.
As for the most listened-to episode at the end of the year, I’m Here at Flower Bluff Manor was the most popular. This was the episode where I captured a real EVP.
Minor Spoilers: The season ends with Geoff’s character disappearing. We do have some ideas for a possible fifth season, but there has been some talk that Jeff may be moving, so we do have an ending if that is the case.
The 16th Phoenix Universe in 2021
In 2020, I wrote a new short story pretty much every week while for 2021, I scaled back with longer stories, but once a month. For 2022, I’m going to keep up with the monthly stories. I’ve been enjoying building my fictional universe.
I did continue work on my various books, including a collection of my short stories, which are in the process of being edited.
Top Songs of 2021
According to Spotify, which is how I mostly listen to music, this was my 2020 soundtrack. As always, keep in mind I will often put a song (or playlist) on repeat when writing or for inspiration sessions. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite song?
Plans for 2022
I’ve been going back and forth on what I want to share for plans for 2022, which has caused me to delay publishing this reflection. There are tons of content I want to create with the goal of building a studio venue. As a proof of concept, I worked with Janine De Guzman to get this vision for The Show Starts Now Studios out of my head.
Let me explain what’s going on in this scene. People are enjoying drinks on a rooftop pool-themed bar while watching a show on a massive drive-in movie theater screen. There are cars parked also watching the movie while people are entering the Earth-built studio to watch live productions. This is part of the entertainment experience I would love to create with The Show Starts Now Studios.
Getting to this goal is the question. I think I have a plan to get there. I’ve been putting all of these elements and pieces together, learning along the way. As of writing this post in January, the path involves creating an OTT service for all of my shows, movies, and documentaries. There’s more to the plan than having a monthly subscription streaming service, but I won’t go into those details. Though I will say I will be focused on adding adventure to people’s lives, so I won’t be directly competing against anyone and positioning myself as a niche add-on. As I’ve been soul-searching and figuring out my “glorious purpose,” everything needs an adventure.
Art & Victory and Yes! Science! will return. I’m going to give my art travel show, Colorful Escapes, another go. I got two other travel shows I’ve been talking to people about starting. I got educational content planned. There are card games (plural) in the works and so much more. I have some documentary films I’m putting together too.
I feel like such a weirdo/freak at times with all of the things I want to do and make, but this makes me happy. I just got to remember to pace myself and focus.
Thank you everyone for your support in the past year. I hope to continue to join me in my endeavors.
Open World: Video Games & Contemporary Art at Oklahoma Contemporary presents the work of artists who use video games as a catalyst for making art that addresses timely issues, including gun violence, migration and gender equality. The artworks in Open World reference a broad cross section of games, ranging from early text adventure and arcade games to more recent releases such as World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto.
In this episode, Artistic Director Jeremiah Matthew Davis shares an overview of the exhibition. Then he highlights works by Tabor Robak, Joan Pamboukes, and Feng Mengbo. The video ends with a tour of the learning gallery for Open World.
Open World’s immersive installation features three interactive artworks. The quiet, introspective game The Night Journey (2007-18), created by Bill Viola in conjunction with the USC Game Innovation Lab, mimics the process of achieving spiritual enlightenment, while Feng Mengbo’s energetic side-scrolling platformer Long March: Restart (2008) loosely recounts a significant event in Chinese history through 8-bit graphics. Retro gamers will enjoy Cory Arcangel’s I Shot Andy Warhol (2002), a modification of the 1984 Nintendo Entertainment System game Hogan’s Alley, which includes appearances by the Pop artist along with Colonel Sanders, Flavor Flav and the pope.
Artists included in the exhibition are: Ueli Alder (Hemberg, Switzerland), Cory Arcangel (New York), Alan Butler (Dublin), JooYoung Choi (Houston), Joseph DeLappe (Dundee, Scotland), Krista Hoefle (South Bend, IN), Invader (Paris), Butt Johnson (New York), Angelo Ray Martínez (South Bend, IN), Michael Menchaca (San Antonio), Feng Mengbo (Beijing), Joan Pamboukes (New York), Oliver Payne (Los Angeles), Tim Portlock (St. Louis), Tabor Robak (New York), Jacolby Satterwhite (New York), Skawennati (Montreal), Suzanne Treister (London), Nathan Vincent (Los Angeles), Bill Viola (Long Beach, CA), Angela Washko (Pittsburgh) and Mathew Zefeldt (Minneapolis).
Open World is organized by the Akron Art Museum and supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, The Tom and Marilyn Merryweather Fund, and National Endowment for the Arts. Oklahoma Contemporary’s exhibition is presented by Velocigo. It is made possible through the generous support of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, Delaware Resource Group, Anonymous, CNS Productions, Annie Bohanon, Christian Kanady, George Records, and Glenna and Richard Tanenbaum.
